Featured Tracks:

"Electric"

TEEN

"Unable"

TEEN

Despite a moniker that suggests kinship with the last decade of bands drawn to ideas of carefree adolescence, TEEN has no actual young folks and doesn't dwell on the emotions and worries of high-schoolers. Formed by Kristina Lieberson, known best as the keyboardist for Here We Go Magic, TEEN make cloudy, lo-fi indie that wouldn't sound out of character being banged out in a suburban basement after homeroom. Lyrically, however, In Limbo deals with adult-style issues, which is the rub. While you get the sense that Lieberson herself is more than willing to provide a window into her thought process, the music suggests she isn't ready to make big decisions. Whereas a 14-year old snaps to decisions and sorts out the details later (if at all), TEEN too often hedge and equivocate, getting lost in their own thoughts.

You could say that In Limbo has a firm grip on vibe but a very loose sense of form. "Better" opens the album strongly, driven by a sharp vocal, pungent synth lines, and Moe Tucker-inspired drum primitivism, while Lieberson plainly but forcefully asserts, "I do it better than anybody else." Her post-punk punch is tougher than the song, but not by much. "Better" peaks around the three-minute mark-- the handclaps added to the chorus are a nice touch-- but then it continues on for two minutes more, neither changing nor adding anything new, a band content to play for itself.

With Here We Go Magic, this might have worked. Lieberson was an important cog in a strong machine there, and the whole band was precisely equivalent to the sum of its parts. Particularly in a live setting, they could stretch out and morph a simple rhythmic idea for what felt like an eternity, with each player's parts as fascinating to focus on as the clockwork sound of the entire band. With TEEN, this is not the case. The songs are dense and trebly, swirling and mutating but rarely growing, and too often staying way past their welcome. There are plenty of worthwhile ideas, but a seasoned producer could strategically shave 20 minutes off the album while losing little.

Without this sort of quality control, Lieberson's ideas get lost. In Limbo would definitely benefit from a few more songs with the animated romantic ache of "Come Back", and minus album-closer "Fire" (my first thought upon hearing the song's opening seconds was of the band glumly receiving the "millionth customer" prize for appropriating Hal Blaine's "Be My Baby" drums). The second half of the record, marked by the lingering dirges "Unable" and "Roses and Wine", falls into a slumber. While "Roses" drags on for six-and-a-half minutes with nothing much to report, "Unable" is the best example of the album's need for some fresh ideas in the studio. The lyrics detail the emotional weight of the album's title, narrating the mundane predictability of person-to-person interactions and the seeming impossibility of breaking free of this rut. Humming along at a numbing pace, the song does no justice to such an interesting perception, though. TEEN have promise, and should make better albums than In Limbo,once the band gains the strength of Lieberson's convictions. With material like this, it's best to strive toward investigating and captivating rather than simply brooding.